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[H.A.S.C. No. 11115]

COMBATING PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS

HEARING
BEFORE THE

FULL COMMITTEE
OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION

HEARING HELD
MARCH 5, 2009

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE


51667

WASHINGTON

2010

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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES


ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
IKE SKELTON, Missouri, Chairman
JOHN SPRATT, South Carolina
JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York
ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland
SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas
HOWARD P. BUCK MCKEON, California
GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi
MAC THORNBERRY, Texas
NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii
WALTER B. JONES, North Carolina
SILVESTRE REYES, Texas
W. TODD AKIN, Missouri
VIC SNYDER, Arkansas
J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia
ADAM SMITH, Washington
JEFF MILLER, Florida
LORETTA SANCHEZ, California
JOE WILSON, South Carolina
MIKE MCINTYRE, North Carolina
ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California
FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey
ROB BISHOP, Utah
ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania
MICHAEL TURNER, Ohio
ROBERT ANDREWS, New Jersey
JOHN KLINE, Minnesota
SUSAN A. DAVIS, California
MIKE ROGERS, Alabama
JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island
TRENT FRANKS, Arizona
RICK LARSEN, Washington
BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania
JIM COOPER, Tennessee
CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS, Washington
JIM MARSHALL, Georgia
K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas
MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO, Guam
DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado
BRAD ELLSWORTH, Indiana
ROB WITTMAN, Virginia
PATRICK J. MURPHY, Pennsylvania
MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma
HANK JOHNSON, Georgia
DUNCAN HUNTER, California
CAROL SHEA-PORTER, New Hampshire
JOHN C. FLEMING, Louisiana
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut
MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado
DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa
THOMAS J. ROONEY, Florida
JOE SESTAK, Pennsylvania
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona
NIKI TSONGAS, Massachusetts
GLENN NYE, Virginia
CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine
LARRY KISSELL, North Carolina
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico
FRANK M. KRATOVIL, Jr., Maryland
ERIC J.J. MASSA, New York
BOBBY BRIGHT, Alabama
ERIN C. CONATON, Staff Director
PHIL MACNAUGHTON, Professional Staff Member
JENNESS SIMLER, Professional Staff Member
CATERINA DUTTO, Staff Assistant

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CONTENTS
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF HEARINGS
2009
Page

HEARING:
Thursday, March 5, 2009, Combating Piracy on the High Seas ..........................
APPENDIX:
Thursday, March 5, 2009 ........................................................................................

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THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2009


COMBATING PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS
STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
McHugh, Hon. John M., a Representative from New York, Ranking Member,
Committee on Armed Services ............................................................................
Skelton, Hon. Ike, a Representative from Missouri, Chairman, Committee
on Armed Services ................................................................................................

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WITNESSES
Gortney, Vice Adm. William E., USN, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central
Command ..............................................................................................................
Mull, Ambassador Stephen, Acting Under Secretary for International Security
and Arms Control, U.S. Department of State ....................................................
Pike, Daniel W., Acting Principal Director, Office of African Affairs, U.S.
Department of Defense ........................................................................................
Wycoff, Karl, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs,
U.S. Department of State ....................................................................................

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APPENDIX
PREPARED STATEMENTS:
Coulter, Michael, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
International Security Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense ....................
Gortney, Vice Adm. William E. .......................................................................
Mull, Ambassador Stephen ..............................................................................
Wycoff, Karl ......................................................................................................
DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD:
[There were no Documents submitted.]
WITNESS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED DURING THE HEARING:
[There were no Questions submitted during the hearing.]
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS POST HEARING:
[There were no Questions submitted post hearing.]

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COMBATING PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES,
Washington, DC, Thursday, March 5, 2009.
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:03 a.m., in room
2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ike Skelton (chairman
of the committee) presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. IKE SKELTON, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM MISSOURI, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON ARMED
SERVICES

The CHAIRMAN. Good morning. Today, the committee meets to


hear testimony on the challenge of piracy on the high seas and the
United States government efforts to deal with this challenge.
Joining us today, Vice Admiral William Gortney, Commander,
United States Naval Forces, Central Command; Mr. Daniel Pike,
Acting Principal Director of the Office of African Affairs within the
Office of the Secretary of Defense; Ambassador Stephen Mull, Acting Under Secretary for International Security and Arms Control
from the State Department; and, Mr. Karl Wycoff, Acting Deputy
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs.
We certainly thank you for being with us today.
If we had called such a hearing two years ago, many might have
wondered why. Until recently, piracy seemed a thing in the past,
part of the stories we tell our children or part of the history lessons
about the Barbary pirates or Blackbeard.
Recent events in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia,
however, make this very much a current and important issue for
American national security.
Piracy fits in the spectrum of low intensity conflict, with threats
like terrorism and cyber warfare. These threats are all fed, in part,
by globalization, which radicalizes significant numbers of people
who feel alienated and disenfranchised and who seek to undermine
the security and prosperity of those they hold responsible.
At the same time, globalization can spread the reach and impact
of these kinds of attacks across the world, including the homeland,
certainly more than just a cost of doing business.
The United States has always been a seafaring nation. Our ability to project power globally is critically linked to our presence on
the seas, the strength of our Navy and our commitment to keeping
the lanes of trade and communication open.
The maintenance of free trade and free passage of vessels are
crucial components of our national security. At a time when we remain dependent on foreign energy supplies, the free movement of
international shipping is very much a national lifeline.
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So it is disturbing to see the trends of the last several years.
While piracy incidents have come down in other critical checkpoints, like the Straits of Malacca, due to the concerted efforts of
neighboring states, incidents in the Gulf of Aden have exploded.
In 2008, there were 293 attacks worldwide, with 111 of them occurring in the Gulf of Aden or the east coast of Somalia.
The international community, led by the United States, has
taken some key steps, and I commend you for it. First, combined
Joint Task Force 151 has brought together Naval forces and our allies and has sparked support for the mission from friends as diverse as Russia and China.
It has helped focus the attention of many nations in pursuit of
our joint interest in maintaining free movement of vessels in the
Gulf of Aden.
Second, the efforts of the Kenyan government, through the agreements with the United States and United Kingdom, should be applauded as a promising way to ensure greater prosecution and to
raise the cost of doing business for these pirates.
Third, the international shipping community, working with the
combined joint task force, has made some progress in improving
and disseminating their best practices.
More must be done and must be done quickly. My own view is
that the international arrangements coordinated by Central Command should be made more formal, more institutionalized. We
need an international counter-piracy league under the auspices of
the United Nations.
What is clear to me is that the United States must remain a
leader in these efforts, but at the same time, we know that neighboring nations must get involved and the collective weight of the
international community must be felt in this regard.
We know, too, that there will be no lasting solution to the problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden until Somalias failed state is addressed. I fear that the situation on the ground in Somalia will be
repeated in other failed states and states with vast areas of
ungoverned territory within their borders.
Piracy cannot exist on this scale and with this level of
brazenness if there was effective government control of that nation.
I look forward to the witnesses thoughts on what can be done
to influence Somalias stability and, in the absence of such stability, what additional steps can be taken to curb piracy in that region.
The issue of piracy is a complex one. Like issues of economic instability and global climate change, it is a nontraditional national
security issue, while, at the same time, reminding us of the historic
persistence of this problem.
Piracy goes to the hard core of American national security and
economic interests. It also demonstrates that any solution must be
both multifaceted and multinational, coordinating the worlds naval
powers, the United Nations, the international shipping community
and the nations that neighbor Somalia.
I am confident that todays hearing will lay some of the options
for addressing this issue on the table.

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Before I turn to the witnesses, let me turn to the ranking member, my good friend from New York, John McHugh, for any remarks he would like to make.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN M. MCHUGH, A REPRESENTATIVE
FROM NEW YORK, RANKING MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON
ARMED SERVICES

Mr. MCHUGH. I thank my good friend and my leader, the chairman, for his gracious comments.
Also, let me add my words of welcome to our distinguished panelists.
As the chairman very ably outlined, it may seem something of
a disconnect today for us to be talking about something as ancient
really as piracy, particularly when this committee concerns itself
on a routine basis with ballistic missile defense, nuclear warfare,
those other more modern-sounding problems that beset us.
But that notwithstanding, as the chairman maintains, and I fully
agree, the challenge of maintaining the sanctity and security of our
shipping lanes and semblance of the sanctity and security on the
high seas falls heavily upon the agenda of our national security interests.
Mr. Chairman, I would ask that I just have unanimous consent
to enter my full comments into the record and, in lieu of thatexcuse meat that same time, just make a few points, if I may.
The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, of course.
Mr. MCHUGH. First, at the risk of stating the obvious, piracy is
not new, as the chairman, again, discussed. Throughout history, we
have been dealing with the events of pirates attacking ships and,
certainly, most notably in our nations history, that of the Barbary
pirates who operated from the northern coast of Africa from the
late 1500s into the early 1800s.
In recent testimony to the Transportation and Infrastructure
Subcommittee, a senior policy analyst from RAND stated, Piracy
is, above all, an economically driven phenomenon, and I think that
is an important point, one that the chairman alluded to, as well,
and it is important that we remind ourselves that piracy, at its
root, is often not driven by ideology.
But I certainly hope you gentlemen may have the chance to talk
a bit today about your thoughts regarding the possibility that piracy may well be linked in these days with terrorist agendas, by
certain Islamist factions seeking to expand particularly control in
Somalia.
Second, I think it is important to remember piracy is a criminal
activity. International law defines piracy as such a criminal act and
requires all nations to work effectively together to suppress that activity, and, therefore, counter-piracy efforts must include coordinated maritime enforcement provisions.
The chairman talked about the Combined Task Force 151 (CTF
151) and it is an important coalition. We have 20 countries operating, as you gentleman all know so very well, in combating piracy
in the region, including Russia, China, India, Germany, Denmark
and Iran.
But not all of those nations, again, as you know, are part of
CTF151 and, as we have seen, often operate under very different

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rules of engagement, and I would very much appreciate comments
on how the Navy is working with members of CTF151 and other
members of the international community, as well as the U.S. Coast
Guard, in the Gulf of Aden and what challenges may be out there
with respect to those differing rules of engagement.
Thirdly, I think we have to put this in a broader context. There
is a significant increase in the number of attacks in the Gulf of
Aden, particularly, and the chairman cited the data that shows
how the larger percentage of worldwide attacks has begun to focus
very heavily, statistically, in that region and in the Somali coastal
areas.
But just last month at a press conference, Vice Admiral Gortney,
you may recall, had commented that, Your chance of being successfully pirated is 0.13 percent.
In other words, as significant a problem as this is, the chances
of being a target of piracy remains low. That is important, not to
diminish the challenge before us, but rather to try to put it, as I
said, in a larger context.
The U.S. Navy and America, of course, has committed two of its
largest surface combatants and the only deployable San Antonio
class amphibious transport ship to counter-piracy efforts in this region.
In short, we are throwing thousands of soldiers andexcuse
mesailors and Marines at this fight and almost a dozen vessels.
And I think we have to ask ourselves, given the demands on U.S.
forces in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation
Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Naval Forces Central Commands
(NAVCENTs) priority mission of partnership strength and presence, how do we use this challenge to better integrate ourselves
with our allies and our international partners to make sure that
we are not carrying, as perhaps one might argue in other parts of
the world, too great a burden.
With that, Mr. Chairman, let me just say again how happy I am
that you had the foresight and concern to call this hearing and look
forward to our witnesses comments and the remainder of this
event.
And I will yield back.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank the gentleman from New York.
Four witnesses in this order: Mr. Pike, Vice Admiral Gortney,
Ambassador Mull, and Mr. Wycoff.
Mr. Pike, you are on. You will have to get very, very close to the
microphone and turn it on.
Mr. PIKE. Good morning, Chairman Skelton.
The CHAIRMAN. A little closer.
Mr. PIKE. We will try this.
The CHAIRMAN. There you go, okay, very well.
STATEMENT OF DANIEL W. PIKE, ACTING PRINCIPAL DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
DEFENSE, FOR MICHAEL COULTER

Mr. PIKE. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member


McHugh, members of the House Armed Services Committee.
Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today to discuss counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.

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My name is Daniel Pike, the acting principal director of the Office of African Affairs, and I am speaking on behalf of Mr. Michael
Coulter, the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for
international security affairs, who is ill and could not attend today.
The CHAIRMAN. Excuse me. Just a little closer, because I am having a problem
Mr. PIKE. Just a little closer.
The CHAIRMAN. Push it down right in front of you.
Mr. PIKE. Is this better?
The CHAIRMAN. Almost eat it, yes.
Mr. PIKE. Okay. Mr. Mike Coulter could not be here today. His
office provides defense policy guidance for Europe, Africa and the
Middle East.
In a moment, I will introduce Vice Admiral Gortney, the naval
commander of our military operations in the Gulf of Aden. He will
go into details of our efforts to combat piracy, but before he does,
I would like to take a brief minute to outline how we see piracy
in the broader policy context.
Throughout history, we have depended on maritime highways for
a global transportation system that deliver goods and materials
around the world. The concept of unimpeded sea lanes underpins
the very meaning of an effective national security strategy, a strategy primarily based on global engagement, and to protect and sustain the global interconnected economy system through which we
maintain our way of life.
Today, freedom of access means the awareness and control of the
entire spectrum of the maritime domain to ensure its access to
good actors and deny its access to bad actors.
From experience, we have come to learn that no one nation can
singlehandedly secure every ocean and every waterway around the
world and because the oceans play an indispensible role in the
safety, security and economic stability of the international community, all nations have a vital interest in ensuring that the maritime
domain remains secure and open for the free and legitimate use of
all.
For these reasons, the recent uptick in piracy in the Gulf of Aden
has caused likeminded leaders and industry and government to
unite to discuss what can be done collectively to unhinge and defeat the scourge of piracy.
We, along with a number of other countries and international organizations, have now committed additional resources to this task.
As you will hear from Vice Admiral Gortney, we are partnering together with traditional allies and with new partners to achieve
international interests.
We will, in our collective effort, use the seas to unite and not divide.
The shaping function of this mission must be interagency, as well
as international. Only some of the tools required to shape the security environment and to reach into the ungoverned sea spaces reside in the U.S. or international navies.
The root causes of piracy reside on land. The absence of a strong
government in Somalia remains the single greatest challenge to regional security and provides freedom of action for those engaged in
piracy along the Somali coast.

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We are, therefore, reaching out to interagency participants, with
their tools, and even further into the private sector. The net beneficiaries of these efforts in the international community must also
be proud and robust contributors.
The Department of Defense co-chairs with the Department of
State an interagency counter-piracy steering group that addresses
the full spectrum of anti- and counter-piracy efforts, from piracy
prevention to interruption and termination of acts of piracy, to ensure the accountability of pirates.
The Defense Department is also supporting the State Department through the recently established contact group on counter-piracy off the coast of Somalia, an international forum that is encouraging countries with a direct interest in countering piracy, including flag and crew states, to provide counter-piracy forces, track piracy financing, and accept custody of and prosecute suspected pirates when apprehended.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you again
for this opportunity to appear before you today.
Now, let me introduce and turn things over to Vice Admiral
Gortney. Following Vice Admiral Gortneys comments, I will be
happy to take any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Coulter can be found in the Appendix on page 37.]
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you so much, Mr. Pike.
Admiral Gortney, please. Get real close. We cant hear it.
STATEMENT OF VICE ADM. WILLIAM E. GORTNEY, USN,
COMMANDER, U.S. NAVAL FORCES CENTRAL COMMAND

Admiral GORTNEY. There we go.


The CHAIRMAN. A little closer.
Admiral GORTNEY. Good morning, Chairman Skelton.
The CHAIRMAN. A little closer.
Admiral GORTNEY. Good morning, Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. There you go.
Admiral GORTNEY. Ranking Member McHugh and members of
the House Armed Services Committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today on our
coalition counter-piracy operations in the Central Command area of
operation.
I have a full opening statement and request that my full testimony be submitted for the record.
The CHAIRMAN. Without objection.
Admiral GORTNEY. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the accomplishments that have been made over the past several months
and to identify some of the challenges that lie ahead.
My name is Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, and I am the commander
of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, headquartered in the
Kingdom of Bahrain. I took command of NAVCENT at the beginning of July, but have been operationally deployed to the region
throughout my Navy career.
As the NAVCENT commander, I am the Naval component commander for General Petraeus at U.S. Central Command.
I also command two additional organizations. I serve as the commander of the United States Fifth Fleet, the Navys numbered fleet

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commander, and, most importantly, in terms of this hearing, I
serve as the commander of the combined maritime forces, an international coalition of more than 20 nations of the willing who provide people, ships and aircraft in the region.
There are national mandates that limit the participation of some
of our coalition partners, but this remains a cooperative and multinational effort.
As most of you know, acts of piracy spiked in late August, but
the recent history of piracy does not start there. Several years ago,
we started to see an increase in piracy off the east coast of Somalia. At that time, it was routine for the merchant vessels to transit
within about 30 miles along the coast.
In response to those attacks, Fifth Fleet and the shipping industry moved the transit lane further off the coast, and it has worked
and the rate of attacks decreased, returning to just a few per year.
That situation changed in the middle of August, when a new clan
of Somali pirates began to attack ships in the Gulf of Aden to the
north of Somalia. The number of ships pirated went from three to
12 in just a few days and, ultimately, we knew the solution to the
problem of piracy is ashore in Somalia itself.
Therefore, I focused the coalition maritime efforts on the security
and stability prevention operations at sea that would give the
international community time to address the long-term solution.
In late August, as commander of the combined maritime forces,
I directed the establishment of the maritime security patrol area
in the Gulf of Aden and we did that in concert with the international maritime organization. We have had coalition ships and
aircraft patrolling the area ever since.
Now, the maritime security patrol area is just one part of a
counter-piracy campaign plan developed by the coalition staff. The
plan was designed to complement and further the efforts of the political, diplomatic and industrial maritime communities.
The operational design of the plan was developed with the purpose of outlining our efforts to engage the international community
to help fix this international problem along three primary lanes
a political/legal, an informational and industrial, and a military.
We focused our counter-piracy efforts on these three main
areasto increase international naval presence, to improve the defensive measures from the shipping industry themselves, and to
internationalize or create an international legal framework for the
resolving of the piracy cases.
Since late August, there have been significant strides made. To
date, we have seen forces from the U.S., the U.K., Canada, China,
Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey and Yemen.
Some of these forces operate within alliances, such as the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the European Union (EU),
some as part of the combined maritime forces coalition, and some
independently representing their own nations interests. Additional
forces from Bahrain, Jordan, Japan, Singapore, Republic of Korea,
Sweden, Belgium and Poland, are expected to participate in the
coming months.
The shipping industry has also been at the forefront. We have
seen countless examples of shipping companies and individual mer-

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chant mariners taking proactive measures to serve as the last line
of defense against pirates, and these are really armed criminals at
sea.
On the operational side, I initially gave the mission to the commodore of one of our existing combined task forces, and that was
the Combined Task Force150 (CTF150). However, I did so knowing that it was an additional mission for an already busy operational commander.
More importantly, I did so very carefully, because at that time,
I knew that some navies in our coalition did not have the authority
to conduct counter-piracy operations from their government and if
we have one red line in our coalition, it is that we will never ask
a member of the coalition to be involved in operations that they do
not have the authority from their national authority to do so.
As a result of the complexity of the operation in that portion of
our area of responsibility, I determined that it was necessary and
prudent to establish a separate task force with a specific mission
and mandate to conduct counter-piracy operations.
In early January, we established CTF151, based on the United
Nations Security Council Resolutions 1816, 1838, 1846 and 1851.
The task force was operational by the middle of that month. Since
that time, we have had several nations join the task force and have
had formal indications from others who have stated they will be
sending ships and/or aircraft in the coming months.
The efforts of CTF151 are critical to the tactical coordination
and deconfliction efforts with all of the international naval forces
operation in the Gulf of Aden. The operational coordination is handled in my headquarters at the combined maritime forces in Bahrain. We have incredible examples of international cooperation,
ranging from personnel exchanges to operational mission coordination to maximize the efficiency of our efforts.
CTF151 and other cooperating naval forces have encountered
approximately 250 pirates. A 121 were disarmed and released, 117
disarmed and turned over for prosecution, and nine are pending
final disposition. Seven suspected pirates taken by CTF151 twoand-a-half weeks ago were turned over this morning to Kenyan authorities in the Port of Mombasa with full evidentiary packages.
Higher capacity has been further impacted by the seizure or destruction of 28 pirate ships and the confiscation of the pirates tools
of the trade, including 133 small arms, 28 rocket-propelled grenades, 51 rocket-propelled grenade projectiles, and 21 ladders and
grappling hooks.
Ultimately, piracy is a problem that starts ashore and requires
an international solution ashore. We made this clear at the offset
of our efforts. We cannot guarantee safety in this vast region. Our
role in preventing some of these attacks is only one part of the solution to preventing further attacks.
Historical precedent can be found in our nations encounters with
the Barbary pirates. We have been successful not only in our coalition efforts, but in communicating and coordinating with other
naval forces deployed to the region, as well as working with the
merchant shipping industry to share best practices and lessons
learned.

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Lastly, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of the sailors, Marines, Coast Guard personnel and
civilian navy mariners under the command of Rear Admiral Terry
McKnight, the CTF151 commander. They have truly made a difference.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I want to thank
you for inviting me to appear here today and I will be happy to answer your questions.
[The prepared statement of Admiral Gortney can be found in the
Appendix on page 39.]
The CHAIRMAN. We thank you. We especially thank you for coming all the way back to testify. We are most appreciative.
Ambassador Mull.
STATEMENT OF AMBASSADOR STEPHEN MULL, ACTING
UNDER SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND
ARMS CONTROL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Ambassador MULL. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and


Ranking Member McHugh. Thanks very much for the opportunity
to appear again before the committee today, especially with such
distinguished colleagues here on the panel.
As you said, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member McHugh and
Admiral Gortney mentioned, freedom of the seas has been a bedrock interest for the United States foreign policy from the very beginning of our republic. It is the key to our prosperity and key to
our security. That was true at the beginning of the republic, as it
is today, when pirates pose a growing threat to a key economic
chokepoint off the Horn of Africa.
As piracy attacks in this region almost tripled from 2007 until
2008, with the numbers of innocent crew members held hostage
growing into the hundreds and ransoms running as high in 2008
as $30 million, which, in turn, fuels the growth of organized crime
and the breakdown of authority in Somalia, the United States government decided to act by adopting a strategy on four distinct
tracks.
First, the diplomatic track to strength international authority
and to coalesce multilateral support to counter piracy. Second,
work with industry to press for better efforts for their own self-defense. Third, to improve judicial capacity among states in the region to prosecute and penalize pirates. And fourth, to strengthen
our own military involvement, as well as the involvement of other
militaries, to counter the force of piracy.
On these four tracks, working together, I think we have made
good progress just in the past few months. In the United Nations,
the United States played the leading role in passing a series of
U.N. Security Council resolutions, most recently, Security Council
Resolution 1851, which Secretary Rice was in the chair to organize
support for up there at the Security Council, and that extended
Chapter Seven authority to enable our militaries, in conjunction
with our foreign partners, to take military action against pirates.
Acting on that resolution, in January, the United States formed
an international contact group, which today has grown to encompass 28 states and six international organizations, who agreed to
pool their efforts to coordinate the fight against piracy, and that

10
contact group has formed four separate subgroups to look at the
military coordination, military and intelligence coordination piece
of counter-piracy, to improve judicial cooperation among regional
states, to liaise better with industry, and, fourth, to coordinate better diplomatic activity.
As Admiral Gortney mentioned, we put meat on the bones of this
framework very quickly with the standup of Coalition Task Force
151, which now features 23 ships from a broad range of militaries,
including group operations, such as the European Unions Operation Atalanta, successive NATO operations, and other contributions from countries like China, India and Russia, and the others
that the admiral mentioned.
We also in January concluded a memorandum of understanding
with the Kenyan government that we, in fact, put into force today,
as the admiral mentioned, with the delivery of seven suspected pirates that U.S. forces captured a couple of weeks ago.
Separately, we have worked with the international maritime organization to produce a booklet of guidelines that advises international shippers on how they can best protect themselves against
pirate attacks.
We have worked with our military partners to create a transit
lane through the Gulf of Aden that has an enhanced military presence to further protect international shipping from the threat of piracy.
The results of all of these efforts combined have been encouraging. The rate of successful piracy attacks, which was 64 percent
in October, plummeted to only 17 percent in February and as of
today, there are only six ships held hostage compared to 14 ships
that were held hostage towards the end of last year.
While weather, bad weather at this time of year and payout of
ransoms certainly had an impact in lowering this, I think it is undeniable that important factors have been this sustained and coordinated diplomatic and military effort.
The benefits from this effort, I think, will go far beyond just stopping pirates. This issue has showcased American leadership in
multilateral diplomacy. It has opened constructive new channels of
communication with the Chinese and Indians and other militaries.
It has improved our overall maritime awareness in a very strategically important region and it has improved the prospects for diplomatic, military and further judicial coordination in the region.
Longer term, I think this cooperation could form the foundation
for a new regional security, maritime security framework, with regional states and outside contributors, like our European allies and
ourselves, and this new framework could include a whole range of
features that I think would improve the security of the region, as
well as our own security.
It could offer a framework for more confidence-building measures
among the military. It could offer a framework for exercises to
build interoperability among these militaries and to help them improve their capabilities in patrolling the seas, in conducting interdiction operations, and responding to humanitarian emergencies.
This is a model that we have followed very successfully with our
partners in southeast Asia in the Malacca Straits, which has seen
a dramatic decline in incidents of piracy, and which has now fea-

11
tured much better and much more integrated military and security
cooperation among our partners there in southeast Asia.
Finally, no discussion about piracy in the region would be complete without a mention of Somalia. There is no doubt that piracy
is a symptom of Somalias failure as a state. While our efforts to
counter piracy described here are strictly focused on piracy, in recognition of the broader problem, the U.S. separately supports the
U.N.-led Djibouti peace process, which provides a mechanism for
political reconciliation, and we also cooperate with a broad international group of donors to support the recovery and reconstruction
of Somalia.
Those efforts face a difficult role and my colleague, Mr. Wycoff,
will address them in greater detail. When those efforts succeed in
Somalia and the piracy threat goes away, I am confident, based on
the great work that Admiral Gortney and our other forces have
done in the region, will provide that foundation for a much more
improved security climate in the critically important Horn of Africa
region.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ambassador Mull can be found in the
Appendix on page 60.]
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Ambassador.
Mr. Wycoff.
STATEMENT OF KARL WYCOFF, ACTING DEPUTY ASSISTANT
SECRETARY, BUREAU OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Mr. WYCOFF. Thank you, Chairman.


I have a short statement that addresses some of the questions
and observations that the committee raised in its opening statement.
The CHAIRMAN. Get real close. We are having difficulty hearing
up here. That is why I want you all to get close. The acoustics in
this room are not very good.
Mr. WYCOFF. All right. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for affording me the privilege of discussing the
relationship between the conditions in Somalia and the blight of piracy in the waters off its shores.
Somalia piracy, offshore, is borne out of instability and insecurity
onshore. Consequently, a complete, long-term and permanent solution to the piracy problem off the coast of Somalia will require a
multifaceted strategy that leads to political and economic stability
on the ground in Somalia and the establishment of basic security.
To protect U.S. national interests, our immediate policy objectives in Somalia are to help Somalia regain political and economic
stability, respond to the humanitarian needs of the Somali people,
and eliminate the threat of terrorism.
Sustainable change in Somalia requires a comprehensive regional strategy and a political solution to conflict that is authored
and implemented largely by Somalis themselves and not by outsiders.
In this regard, we continue to support the United Nations-led
Djibouti peace process, which has provided the mechanism for So-

12
malis to make important political and security decisions in recent
months.
We also continue to work with a broad international group of donors to support the U.N.-led process, including the African Union
and the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development.
The Djibouti process has led to the establishment of a new unity
government with a respected leader as president, Sheikh Sharif
Sheikh Ahmed, and a well-experienced prime minister, Omar
Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke. The prime minister has now appointed
a cabinet. The new team represents a broad cross-section of Somali
clans and political opinions.
The next step is for this unity government to foster deeper credibility with Somalis by establishing itself in Mogadishu, a process
that has already begun, and to facilitate the delivery of services
there and in surrounding regions of Somalia.
The United States worked with the other members of the U.N.
Security Council Somalia Sanctions Committee to adopt Resolution
1844 in November of 2008, which empowers the committee to designate spoilers of Somalias reconciliation process for targeted sanctions.
While the recent political progress is encouraging, no political solution can be sustainable, even if widely supported, unless it is anchored by a robust security force capable of protecting the unity
government and its activities. We encourage efforts by the international community to support the unity government as it stands
up such a security force.
A good way to address African conflicts or security issues is with
African forces and expertise. Africans know and understand their
terrain well and have a paramount vested interest and stake in
any outcome. In this regard, we continue to support the African
Union Mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, and are especially
appreciative for the governments of Uganda and Burundi for sending soldiers to do the difficult work associated with peacekeeping
in Somalia.
We are currently funding the deployment of additional AMISOM
battalions, which we hope will bring the total number of African
Union forces on the ground in Somalia to over 5,000 within the
next few months. Nontraditional donors to Somalia, such as Gulf
Arab states, have indicated a possible willingness to support
AMISOM and the unity government security force.
Mr. Chairman, it almost goes without saying that security must
improve in order for displaced people to return home. Without political stability, the humanitarian situation will remain dire.
The U.S. remains the largest bilateral donor of humanitarian assistance to Somalia. We hope the relocation of the unity government to Somalia and the standup of the joint security forces in
Mogadishu will help improve security conditions at the community
level and produce arrangements to facilitate humanitarian access
so emergency assistance reaches those most in need.
I welcome your comments and your questions.
Thank you, sir.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Wycoff can be found in the Appendix on page 66.]
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Wycoff, thank you very much.

13
Admiral, tell us a typical example of piracy takeover of a ship
and what happens from beginning to end.
And my first question is why in the world dont they just pull up
the ladder. Why dont you give us a typical example of what happens from the very beginning to the end?
Admiral GORTNEY. Yes, sir. As you mentioned, as you implied, to
have a piracy event, you need two thingsyou need a pirate and
you need a ship willing to get pirated.
And if the coalition is out there with ships, airplanes and helicopters, there arent any pirates. If they see us, they are fishermen.
If they dont see us, they are potentially pirates and, therefore, if
we are not around, they will attempt to attack a type of vessel that
is susceptible to attack, which is based on the speed of the vessel
and the freeboard or the height above the first deck to the water.
If it is a low freeboard and the ship is doing about 13 knots or
less, it has got a high probability of being attacked, to be picked
out for attack. If it has a high freeboard and going over about 15
knots, high freeboard or doing about 15 knots, it is too hard for the
pirates to get on board and they will bypass those vessels.
So if they see one of these vessels that we call low and slow and
they are able to get near it, they will pull up alongside with their
very small boat that was probably towed out to the area where the
merchant ships are by a mother ship, and that mother ship, in
most cases, almost all cases, is a pirated vessel itself, a dow of
some sort, and it looks just like all of the fishing dows out there
that tow their skiffs to tend their nets that are out there.
They will get in their skiffs. They will pull up alongside and intimidate either with the AK47s or Rocket-Propelled Grenades
(RPGs), in some cases, actually shooting both to get the captain to
stop.
Early on, we saw instances where the shipping industry did
there are occasions when the ladder was even down and they were
able to just come up the Jacobs ladder.
Since then, you are seeing they put up grappling hooks, ladders
to get up on board, and intimidate the crew to stop the vessel. The
time from the initial attack until on the vessel is about a 15-minute
window of opportunity and if we arent there to prevent them from
getting on board in that 15-minute window of opportunity, then if
we haveif they are successfully on board and they stay on board,
then we are in a hostage situation and the pirates take it to the
east coast of Somalia and work the negotiation process with the
shipping company that is responsible for that vessel.
We see the attacks occur in the morning and with a sea state
less than three feet. We did have an attack last week before the
sunrise. We saw that as a change of Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP), but the sea states and seas, they are very small vessels. We watch very carefully. If it is less than three feet in the
morning, we anticipate these fishermen become suspected pirates.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McHugh.
Mr. MCHUGH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just a quick question first, and I guess I would direct it to the
admiral, but anybody who may have an answer.

14
I am sure we are categorizing these acts of piracy against a nation ship or the flag that has been seized. Anybody seem immune?
Anybody just kind of never had a ship snatched?
Admiral GORTNEY. I would say no one is immune out of the pirates intent to get on a vessel, not by a nation state. It really becomes a look for targets of opportunity more than anything else.
We have seen no instances of not targeting a particular nations
flag or targeting one. It is just an opportunity that they can get on
board.
Mr. MCHUGH. So we have a lot of misery in our company, a lot
of folks affected.
I mentioned in my opening comments the traditional historic root
cause of piracy as being financially, economically driven. There are
social factors, of course, on the ground that, Mr. Ambassador, you
and others have commented upon and, obviously, we need to deal
with that.
But having just returned from Afghanistan, of course, the poppy,
depending on whose data you use, it is $100 million to $500 million
a year in Osama Bin Laden and the Talibans pocket.
Do we see any connection between the activities on the seas, the
piracy and the giving up of the booty, if you will, as to Islamic or
radical factions operating in the war in Somalia or elsewhere?
Admiral GORTNEY. No, sir, we do not. We look very, very carefully for a linkage between piracy and terrorism or any kind of ideology and we do not see it. It would be a significant game changer
should that linkage occur.
But we have not seen it. We watch very carefully for it. This is
financially motivated criminal activity at sea because they have no
alternatives to make a living other than that.
Mr. MCHUGH. As I mentioned, as well, last question and then I
will be happy to yield back, Mr. Chairman, CTF151 is a unique
undertaking and I commend you and everyone, all our nations
partners for being involved, that there are nations beyond that and
some bring both an interesting and a first presence.
This is really, for the Chinese, this is a historic deployment for
them, way beyond their traditional bounds of influence and their
sea lanes.
How would you describe the cooperation and the differing rules
of engagement, particularly from your perspective, with the Chinese who are operating in that same theater?
Admiral GORTNEY. Piracy is defined as a universal crime, and all
navies are authorized and obligated to conduct counter-piracy operations.
The founding rules of engagement that we are using are all
based on United Nations Security Council resolutions, but it comes
down to the individual nations interpretation of some of those authorities and the aggressiveness that they might pursue.
In some instances, nations may only be able to respond to a piracy attack. Other nations that have aligned themselves have sent
them down there for a pure counter-piracy mission, either inside
151, associated with 151 or underneath their national mandate.
They have authorities to conduct and, I would say, offensively
conduct counter-piracy operations.

15
The coordination effort with that number of nations that are not
aligned in a clean chain of command is not insignificant, but naval
offices know how to get the job done.
At the operational level, the coordination is done in my headquarters. We have NATO and E.U. liaison officers in my headquarters in the combined maritime forces embedded in my combined maritime forces staff as part of the team that is putting it
together.
Through United States Pacific Command (PACOM), we have offered for the Chinese if they would like to put a liaison officer into
headquarters, as well.
At the tactical level, though, we leave it to CTF151, previously,
it was 150, to do the tactical deconfliction on the waterfront, that
has to occur on the waterfront. We communicate, we share all of
our information that is unclassified. We keep nothing from anybody
that is down there assisting with it.
And then how we communicate with those nations, with those
navies that are down there on the waterfront is a function of the
technology that they have. If they are part of NATO, E.U., the combined maritime forces, they have our CENTRICS, which is our coalition Internet communication method, the chat rooms.
In the case of the Russians, we have to do it over bridge-to-bridge
radio. That is the only mechanism.
With the Chinese, we communicate via unclassified e-mail with
their Yahoo account and they are actually giving us their intentions via that process, where they are going to go the next day.
That better helps us put the ships where they are not going to be
at that tactical deconfliction.
We have had visits by the Russian commander onboard our flag
ship, meeting with Admiral McKnight, and we have made that
offer to the Chinese, who have said they would accept it, but we
just havent been able to make the meeting occur in person.
Mr. MCHUGH. Thank you, Admiral.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
The CHAIRMAN. Before I call on Mr. Ortiz, let me ask. The pirates get the ship. They control the ship. Then what normally happens?
Admiral GORTNEY. The pirates, usually, they will take the vessel
or have the master drive the vessel to the northeast coast or the
tip of the Horn of Africa. Another crew gets on board and then they
sail it down to one of the anchorages on the east coast of Somalia,
roughly within a mile ofinside of a mile of the shoreline, and another crew, another group of pirates gets on board to maintain that
ship while the negotiation process goes on.
The CHAIRMAN. How do they do the negotiations?
Admiral GORTNEY. That is worked out through a pirate clan.
Sometimes the senior pirate leader on the vessel itself, with whatever mechanism, the shipping line, the owners of that vessel want
to perform that negotiation.
We do not get the coalition or any of the nations get involved
with the negotiation process. That is not in our lane. It is not our
job to do that. We do not want to do that.
But we do monitor, through any technical means that we have
available, to monitor the health and well being of the hostages, the

16
mariners that are on board, how much fuel they have, how much
water they have, are they their food.
So we have an understanding of where we are in the negotiation
process. Average time from the attack to release of the vessel averages around 45 days, $1.5 million to $2 million ransom. That was
skewed a little bit with Faina, which was a vessel that was carrying T72 tanks and large percentages of RPGs.
We did monitor that and kept a cruiser or destroyer on it so that
those weapons didnt get offloaded and further destabilizing a destabilized place. That was a fairly long negotiation process for that
one to occur.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Ortiz.
Mr. ORTIZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In December, I guess, 2008, and I think Mr. McHugh mentioned
that, the United Nations passed Resolution 1851 that allows states
to use land-based operations in Somalia for counter-piracy.
Does the Department of Defense have any intention to combat piracy within Somalia?
Ambassador MULL. I will be happy to take the lead in answering
that. On a policy level, while we sought in the negotiations for the
Security Council resolution to give that authority to any nation
willing to take it, we do not plan, at this time, to conduct any
counter-piracy operations on land.
Mr. ORTIZ. So we dont have anybody willing to take it.
Ambassador MULL. None of our other coalition partners as of yet
have expressed an intention to do that. But in the negotiations up
at the United Nations to put that language in the resolution, it was
to plan for what would happen if a member of the international coalition were pursuing a pirate and the pirates managed to escape
and get up on land, would we need authority to go after them and
pursue them.
And so just to be safe, we sought that authority within the resolution. But there are no plans to conduct counter-piracy operations
on land.
Mr. ORTIZ. Now, I know that we have a new command, the Africa
Command. What is their role now with these piracy activities?
Mr. PIKE. The U.S. Africa Command does have the geographic
responsibility for it if there would be operations in the Somalia territory, if you will.
While we understand that there is a maritime component which
is clearly in the Central Commands area of responsibility, the
land-based operation would be under the U.S. Africa Command.
At present, as has already been stated, we do not have any intentions to forward any active operations on land. That does not preclude that and, in fact, the Defense Department is looking at that,
but there is no such intention at this point to advance that.
Mr. ORTIZ. Do you think that the pirates know what is in the
pipeline? Do they know what these ships are carrying? Do you
think that somebody might be giving them information as to what
is moving along the pipeline so that they know what ships to attack?
Admiral GORTNEY. Sir, I will take that. We do not see them targeting any particular vessel, have any foreknowledge or any intelligence of the vessel that they might want to take.

17
They really just look for the soft target that they might be able
to get on board. Early on, we saw, when the maritime security patrol area as a little further to the north, it was in cell phone range.
We did get indications that one piracy, one skiff missed an opportunity, he would call a buddy up the shipping lane and say, This
vessel is coming, you might be able to get on board.
It is one of the reasons why we moved the maritime security patrol area farther to the center of the Gulf of Aden.
Mr. ORTIZ. Can I just have one last question?
You mentioned that once they are apprehended and you have got
those pirates in custody, that they are turned over for prosecution.
They are turned over to whom to prosecute?
Ambassador MULL. As we mentioned earlier, we have concluded
this memorandum of understanding with the government of Kenya
and just today they did accept seven pirates with packets of evidence that our Navy managed to collect in a particular incident
and the Kenyan foreign minister has said that he would welcome
this is in their economic interest, because Mombasa is a keythe
Port of Mombasa is a key source of wealth for them.
And so because of that, the Kenyan government says that they
would be welcoming any pirates that the international community
can provide them for prosecution.
There are other states in the region. Tanzania has expressed
some possible interest and we are exploring that with them. Of
course, it is a little farther away.
The challenge we run into, sir, is very often you cant catch pirates in the act of committing. You can suspect that they are pirates, but without any evidence. And without any evidence, in
cases like that, we really have very little option under international
law except to certainly take their weapons away from them, but
then release them.
Mr. ORTIZ. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Fleming, please.
Mr. FLEMING. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
When we prosecute these criminals, what law or laws do we
prosecute them under or what? Is it international law? Is there
state law? How do we approach that?
Ambassador MULL. Well, our authority to capture pirates is
based very much on international law and U.N. Security Council
resolutions. But the actual prosecution is based on national law.
So when the Kenyan government prosecutes these seven pirates
that we have just turned over to them, it will be based on Kenyan
laws against piracy.
Similarly, if there were ever a U.S. victim of one of these attacks
or a U.S. shipping line that were a victim, our Justice Department
has said that it would favorably consider prosecuting such apprehended pirates and, again, it would be on the basis of American national law.
Mr. FLEMING. Thank you. With any kind of crime, it is always
an issue of risk and reward and, obviously, you want to do what
you can to increase the risk for the criminal and lower the reward.
Has there been an effort or plan to have decoy ships or something that would kind of pull them in and a little bit of honey, if

18
you will, that will attract them and then create a high enough risk
that that is going to make them want to go another direction?
Admiral GORTNEY. We contemplated that a few years back and
rejected it as being not as effective. We think a combination of military presence and working with the shipping industry has a higher
probability of success.
We have put a slide, I hope you have it in front of you, of campaign results. If you look at the lower left-hand corner of that slide,
it has two columns per month. The first column is in red, which
is the number of successful attacks. It is not cumulative. It is for
that month.
The next bar is either green or blue, green if that bar is unsuccessful attacks and if it is in green, it is because the shipping industry, the merchant ship itself took defensive action and it was
successful in breaking it up. If it is blue, it was because of the military.
You see the combination of that is why it has beenthe combination of it is having a deterrent effect, but not as successful an effect
that we are looking for until last month.
If you look at it even through the month of January, the number
of attempts continued to be on the rise, which was telling us our
campaign plan wasnt working. It isnt the total number of successful attacks that we are using for our metrics, it is we want to drive
the total number of attempts down.
So in order to do that, you need to disincentivize piracy, which
is part of your question. Two ways to do that. One is dont pay
them. But the shipping industry has said they are going to pay
them.
The second thing is we have to disincentivize another mechanism
and that is where, in the middle of the month, working to the
memorandum of understanding with the Kenyan government that
when we capture these pirates, we have a mechanism to take them
to a court of law, that are suspected pirates, suspected criminals
at that point, try them; if found guilty, hold them accountable for
their actions.
And so we think between the combination of all of that is what
is having our success right now. The question is where will we be
a year from now. Will we continue to be effective?
Sir, as you said, there is a lot of resources being invested into
this. Will the E.U., will NATO, will the other nations continue to
be there?
Fifth Fleet, United States Navy, will be there, combined maritime forces will be there. And so keeping this international support
down there to help while we work the other avenues is very, very
important.
Mr. FLEMING. And finally, is there any effort by the shipping industry to harden their ships, make them faster, make them sit
higher in the water or do any of the other things that make them
less of a target?
Admiral GORTNEY. Yes, sir. We share with them best practices,
lessons learned, how to harden the target, the speed and maneuver. Some vessels, though, just cant go any faster or they are
laden, so they are going to be low to the water or they are designed
to be low to the water.

19
And then you use mechanisms such as put barbed wire around
the low areas so that it is hard to get on board. Embark security
guards, we see instances of that, using non-kinetic and kinetic
measures with security guards is a last line of defense. Non-kinetic
measures, Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), fire hoses, posting lookouts.
The shipping industry have really leaned their crews out. So they
dont have the manpower to post the lookout. So they have to put
additional people on board and, once again, that is the line of defense and that statistically has proven to be the most effective reason for unsuccessful attacks.
Mr. FLEMING. Thank you, gentlemen.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank the gentleman.
Mr. Taylor.
Mr. TAYLOR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank you gentlemen for being with us today.
Ambassador Mull, I am curious. Is the State Department empowered to say that an attack upon an American vessel will be considered an attack upon America and no matter who apprehends the
pirates, we will try them and, if convicted, detain them in an
American prison?
Do you have the legal authority to do that at this time?
Ambassador MULL. Our basis for pronouncing on any kind of piracy is really based on recognized international law of the high
seas in that a piracy attack is a crime.
We wouldnt really consider it an attack on the United
States
Mr. TAYLOR. Just for clarification, it has always been my understanding that an American flagged vessel is considered a piece of
America.
So would that not be a crime on America?
Ambassador MULL. Yes, it very much would be.
Mr. TAYLOR. Okay. So lets follow up, then. To what extent is our
State Department putting out the word that an attack on an American flagged vessel would be treated as an attack on America, and
that no matter which country apprehends the criminals, that we
would expect them to be turned over to a United States court of
justice, tried in American court, and, if convicted, detained in an
American facility?
Ambassador MULL. The decision
Mr. TAYLOR. I think that would be a very strong message, and
if you dont have the legal authority to do that, I would like to give
you that legal authority. So lets get that clarified right now, if we
can.
Ambassador MULL. The decision to prosecute really rests with
the American law enforcement community, but the Justice Department or the respective U.S. attorney, it would be his or her decision to decide whether or not to prosecute a case.
And so as part of our international engagement, we have been
very much seeking Justice Department authority to say that to our
international partners, that we are eager to prosecute people.
Mr. TAYLOR. Ambassador, you know where I am going. I would
like, in writing, from you, an answer to that question.

20
Do you have the legal authority to say what I just asked you to
say and then to back that up in the American courts, and if not,
why not? So that if that is not the case, we can correct that as a
legislative body.
Ambassador MULL. Well, we can say it is a violation of U.S. law.
The decision and the authority to say that is unquestioned. It is a
matter of fact.
But the decisionthe second part of your question, sir, about
that we will prosecute the case, that would depend on
Mr. TAYLOR. Well, Mr. Ambassador, I very much appreciate that,
but I had the pleasure of a briefing by the admiral in December
over in Bahrain. He let it be known to the delegation that part of
his problem was if someone is caught, there was no one to take the
criminal.
Now, I am old enough to remember when the world had a selective outrage when it came to hijackings. If our plane was hijacked,
we were outraged. If a plane coming from a perceived enemy of the
United States was hijacked, we thought it was okay.
And only after several tragedies did the world community say hijacking is wrong no matter where it occurs. I am talking about of
aircraft.
I think it is time for the world community to do that. Now, until
we can get the world community to do that, at least as far as this
nation is concerned, I think a strong message coming from our
White House, from our State Department, along the lines of what
I just said, would be very beneficial.
If you dont have the legal authority to do that, I need to know
that so that we can address that.
Ambassador MULL. Well, we do. I am happy to say that and any
State Department official would say that a crime against America,
that we have the right to pursue and certainly the intention to pursue it.
It is just when it gets to individual cases, it would be up to the
Justice Department to make the call on individual cases. But as a
general principle, when a crime is committed against Americans or
American property or our assets overseas, absolutely, we have total
authority to see a prosecution of the perpetrators.
Mr. TAYLOR. To what extent are you pursuing some sort of an
international agreement, keeping in mind that a great many of
these vessels are flagged in Panama, for example?
I would think the thought of spending time in a Panamanian
prison might be a deterrent to that crime.
On the flipside, I have never been to Kenya. So I really know
nothing about the country, but I have got to say there is within me
a certain concern that there is a lot of money involved here. Lets
make sure that that person stays in prison once he gets there. And
who is going to track that?
Secondly, what the admiral didnt touch on, Mr. Chairman, it is
my understanding that many of these pirates are represented by
some of the most prestigious law firms in London and, it has become a business.
It has become that sophisticated and I think we, as anfirst, as
our country, ought to do it independently and then as part of the

21
international community take the steps to address this before it
gets any further out of hand.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. I think a clarification from the Justice Department, Ambassador Mull, might be of some help on that issue.
Mr. Bartlett.
Mr. BARTLETT. Thank you very much.
Are these pirates rich people getting richer or poor people trying
to feed their family?
Admiral GORTNEY. They are poor people trying to pay theirthe
pirates themselves that are doingthat are in the pure execution
mode are just trying to make a living. We do not see there isthe
clan is fairly organized. There is a hierarchical process. There are
different skill sets. But at the end of the day, the ones that are actually doingtaking themaking the piracy attempts are just trying to make a living.
Mr. BARTLETT. I understand one of the big problems iswell,
first of all, these people have learned that crime really does pay in
that part of the world, doesnt it?
Admiral GORTNEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BARTLETT. Because generally, getting ransomed and if they
are caught, I understand that there is a problem in finding a legitimate courts to try them.
Admiral GORTNEY. Yes, sir. That was why we felt that we developed our campaign plan was to increase international support,
more navies to work with the shipping industry and the most important tool that we needed was a method to, when we capture
them, we have the authorities to capture them and rules of engagement to capture them all along, but when we capture them, we had
no place to take them to try them and, if they were found guilty,
hold them accountable for their actions.
That is why the most significant, decisive event that occurred occurred when the State Department worked that agreement with
Kenya to take the pirates that we thinkthat we are pretty confident we have the evidence that they are asking for to try them
and hold them accountable.
Mr. BARTLETT. Is there no world court that could try them?
Ambassador MULL. No, sir, there are not now. There have been
some proposals of creating a new international tribunal, perhaps
under the aegis of the United Nations. The U.S. view of that is that
the number of pirates involved would not justify the many, many
millions of dollars that would be required to stand up that court.
So we think a quicker, a cheaper and a more efficient way is to
use the national legal authorities with Kenya, with other countries
in the region, or, when necessary, using our own courts.
And if I could just follow up, actually, to Congressman Taylors
question by commenting that today, for example, we are meeting
legal authorities of the 28 countries that participate in this contact
group. The legal authorities are meeting in Copenhagen today, in
fact, to get a broader consensus about how to best use those national authorities in prosecuting pirates.
Mr. BARTLETT. Would it be simpler simply to modify the charter
of an existing world court so that they could do this?

22
Ambassador MULL. That is one possibility. We could look at the
international criminal court, for example. But part of the challenge
in that is that these courts do not have the expertise on their staff.
So it would require, again, an expenditure to get them smart
enough to try these cases.
But then there is the broader problem of what you do if they
were convicted in an international court. What would you do with
them then? There is no such thing as a world prison. So there
would have to be some mechanism through which pirates could
then be incarcerated and held, which would, again, be a significant
expense.
In looking at all of these options, we believe the national route
is the more efficient way to go.
Mr. BARTLETT. I have a problem with renditions that turn criminals over to countries and courts that do not adhere to the same
civil liberties protections that we should adhere to.
I would be much more comfortable and I think that the world
generally would be much more comfortable if these criminals were
turned over to an international criminal court, where I think most
everybody feels that defensible civil liberties are practiced.
Shouldnt it be fairly simple simply to modify the charter of an
existing world court? They have to learn that crime doesnt pay. As
long as it pays, they are going to keep doing this.
So we have to do something so that crime doesnt pay. There has
to be a certain punishment. It has to be swift and sure and it has
to be adequate to deter future potential crimes.
Ambassador MULL. Yes, sir. It is an option that remains under
consideration and just because we are using national authorities
now doesnt mean that we would rule that out.
That is one of the purposes of this meeting in Copenhagen today
is to explore whether or not that might be a way of moving forward. Our own judgment is that it would take a while to do that.
We would have to work through the United Nations to alter the authorities of the existing courts.
As you may know, sir, U.S. policy on these courts has been somewhat skeptical of these courts out of fear that what happens if an
American citizen ends up getting caught up in one of these international courts.
So we would have to work that whole process through the United
Nations. In the meantime, we dont want to let that get in the way
of putting pirates in jail now. But it is an option that we continue
to consider with our international partners.
Mr. BARTLETT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It is everybodys problem. It is not just our problem.
Thank you.
Mr. WYCOFF. If I may just add one comment, please, and that is
that the State Department and our interagency partners are very
clearly focused on the legal and due process aspects, the humanitarian law and so forth, of how piracy suspects are treated.
We take your concerns about local courts and administrations
and due process of law very seriously and that is part of this process. The legal affairs bureau or legal attaches in the field and so
forth are all part of a combined effort to make sure that those
rights are respected.

23
The CHAIRMAN. Thank the gentleman.
Mr. Marshall.
Mr. MARSHALL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Not too long ago, I think it was a Chinese vessel that was detained and then ransomed and the ransom was paid and apparently the weather was bad and the upshot was that a number of
the pirates drowned and there was some publicity about that, and
I was really struck by the statement of the uncle of one of the pirates who had drowned.
He expressed outrage with the delay had resulted in this bad
weather and the uncle felt that really those folks who hadthat
others were actually responsible for the death of his nephew rather
than the nephew being responsible for his own death because he
is a pirate.
It is as if the view of the family is that this is a legitimate business and somehow the system has wronged the family by making
it a little tougher to get the ransom money home. It is really just
kind of stunning.
And to pick up on Mr. Bartletts inquiry, how do we increase the
costs so that we discourage the behavior here? I find myself wondering if, say, insurance companies that are probably losing a lot
of money covering claims havent hired mercenaries, essentially, to
ride around in slow, low boats, as you described them, Admiral,
and, when attacked, kill the attackers and with the idea that if you
do that often enough, maybe that will discourage some of this behavior.
Is there a problem with the law of the seas that would somehow
prohibit or the law of England probably is where an awful lot of
these maritime insurers are located, would prohibit these insurers
from doing that, from hiring boats to go out there and lessen the
likelihood, lessen the enthusiasm for doing this?
Ambassador MULL. Yes. In fact, sir, a number of private security
firms around the world have expressed an interest and have, in
fact, marketed themselves to shipping lines to provide exactly the
service that you describe.
Many of the shippers, in our contact with them, are very reluctant to take on more aggressive means of self-defense, because they
believe that it will have a pendulum effect in that the more violent
or aggressive they become in their self-defense measures, the more
violent and more armed the pirates will become.
So that the prevailing view within the international shipping
community has been to adopt some of the more passive self-defense
measures that Admiral Gortney mentioned, which are, in fact,
quite effective in repelling the vast majority of pirate attacks.
Mr. MARSHALL. So has there been someapparently, you are
saying that there has been some conscious decision not to do this,
not to engage in that kind of behavior, not to hire people to float
around in small vessels waiting to be attacked.
Ambassador MULL. That is right. Most shipping companies do
not want those sorts of services.
Mr. MARSHALL. And Somalia is such a failed state that it is just
impractical to think that somehow we can entice Somalia into dealing with the pirates itself.

24
Mr. WYCOFF. As I mentioned in my statement, there is a comprehensive set of policies and efforts to try to help Somalia regain
its place in theits stability, its internal security.
We are certainly in touch with Puntland authorities, a lot of this
is based in Puntland, and are advocating that additional measures
be taken. But I cannot say that that is a short-term solution to
this. It is very much a mid-term and longer-term approach, one
that we are very focused on.
It is an interagency process, State Department, AID, Department
of Defense, a number of partners working on it.
But the short-termthe measures that we have discussed this
morning are really kind of the best short-term approach to dealing
with the problem.
Thank you.
Mr. MARSHALL. Has anybody considered, I guess, this may be impossible or somehow illegal, employingI dont know who you
would call on. You have got the pirates out there making money
attacking ships and taking them and holding them for ransom.
How about paying somebody to make money attacking the pirates? And to the extent that you see significant reduction in the
pirating, then pretty generous payments are made. Just let sort of
a lawless area work it out.
Mr. WYCOFF. Our approach on that, as I say, has been to work
with the authorities that we are able to have contact with in Somalia and to try to build respect for the rule of law and a political
process there, an inclusive political process that deals with the
basic security problems in Somalia, and it has been limited to that.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. MARSHALL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Before I call on Mr. Coffman, let me askand
I dont know, Mr. Pike, you or the admiral might answer the question. The incidents of piracy in the Malacca Straits have gone
down.
Why is that?
Admiral GORTNEY. Working with my counterparts in Seventh
Fleet, it is because the governments that their waters, territorial
waters share those straits took activity to stop theto prevent the
actions from occurring.
So it was the states themselves, the nation states that share
those waters that took it upon themselves to take action.
The CHAIRMAN. So the safe havens in that part of the world have
disappeared.
Admiral GORTNEY. I wouldnt say they have disappeared. They
are significantly reduced.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.
Mr. Coffman.
Mr. COFFMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think the first question, I think, in part, was already asked, but
let me restate it and get some clarification.
And that is, in Iraq, obviously, we were successful in bringing
former insurgent elements, Sunni Arab folks on our side through
the awakening councils.

25
Has there been any discussion for doing the same with some of
these clans in Somalia to get them to assist by providing some type
of patrols in their area to counter the pirate element?
Mr. WYCOFF. Yes. What I would say is that there is this Djibouti
peace process, the formation of this unity government. President
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is engaged in a process of outreach
to all of the communities in Somalia with the intention of establishing a functional government in all the areas of Somalia that
would be in a position then to enforce the rule of law.
Mr. COFFMAN. Well, my question is in terms of our involvement
or outside of Somalia, is there any discussion in the international
community of engaging some of these clan elements in terms of enlisting their support and helping to patrol these waters?
Mr. WYCOFF. Specifically in terms of helping to patrol these
waters, two things I could say, Congressman.
One is that the Puntland government has, as I understand it, a
contract with a private Somali company that has several boats
the admiral may know more about this than I doand there is
some nascent effort there that might be built on.
The other is that there are representations with Puntland authorities to be more serious in terms of rule of law in their own
area. As you know, Somalia is a very difficult operating environment.
So at this stage, I could not assure you that that would bear fruit
and would be a way forward, but there is a larger process that we
hope will bear fruit in the longer term.
Admiral GORTNEY. We have turned over, on a couple of occasions,
suspected pirates that we lack the evidence to the Puntland coast
guard. We see them patrolling in a small effort, but they are just
so small, the problem is so large, that they are not very effective.
Mr. COFFMAN. We obviously have a profile of what these folks
look like. If they are engaged in fishing, arent they a little closer
to the coast than if they are not engaged in fishing?
I mean, is there a way that we can establish a pattern of behavior whereby we can board these vessels and search these vessels?
Admiral GORTNEY. One of the reasons we moved, if you look on
the slide, the maritime security patrol area down in the center of
the Gulf of Aden, when it was up to the north, it was actually
intermixed with some of the prime fishing grounds just to the
south of Yemen.
And so it was very difficult to differentiate between the types of
vessels. So we moved it further out and that did help a little bit.
That said, mother ships are pirated fishing dows and the skiffs
that the pirates are working from are the same skiffs, same color.
So it is really when we get on top either with maritime patrol or
with helicopters or with a ship and we look inside these skiffs and
we determine that they dont have nets or baskets and they have
AK47s, RPGs and ladders, we know that they are not involved in
fishing and that is when we take thosewe take them, we disarm
them, we take their pictures, we fingerprint them, biometric them,
and then we release them if we did not catch them in the act.
Mr. COFFMAN. But we obviously take those weapons.

26
Admiral GORTNEY. Absolutely. Actually, if we are going to take
them and try them, we keep some for evidence. Otherwise, we
throw them all overboard.
Mr. COFFMAN. Very well.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Johnson.
Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing.
It has always been said that money is the root of all evil, and
so since money is the root of this problem, I want to talk about the
money.
It would seem to me that it would not be feasible for these pirates to be able to accumulate the money, hold it and hold onto
cash money.
Is that the way the ransoms are paid out, in cash, and if so, is
it American dollars? And if so, what is the current state of the Somali banking system? I would think that it would be darn insistent
or, at the very least, just not sophisticated enough to fill in dollars.
Also, I understand that these exchanges of the moneys made by
air drop, I want to know if that is the way it goes all the time. I
also want to know how do the pirates communicate with the victims, in other words, they get a ship and want two million bucks?
Where does this money end up?
It would seem that we should be able to track the money. It
would seem to me that we would have a theory as to how that
money is used. Is it deposited somewhere and if so, where? And ultimately, I would like to know who is behind this whole piracy
issue, because I just have a hard time thinking that a small band
of uneducatedI am making assumptionsuneducated Somalis
would have the capability for pulling off something like this repeatedly.
Admiral GORTNEY. The exact transfer is pretty low tech. The negotiation is completed. The negotiations occur over primarily
Inmarsat, satellite radio, between the pirate negotiator and whoever is handling the negotiations for that shipping line, the owner
of the vessel.
Mr. JOHNSON. By telephone or cable?
Admiral GORTNEY. It is a satellite phone, satellite mechanism.
Mr. JOHNSON. Do we have the capability of tracking the phone
call from the pirate to the victim?
Admiral GORTNEY. We use all mechanisms available to monitor
the negotiation process. Once the negotiation has been completed,
the cash, it is just pure cash, usually American dollars, and we are
seeing now being parachuted in to where the piratednear to the
pirate vessel.
The cash is distributed among the pirates and where it goes once
it is ashore, I am not certain. But I do know that we are looking
into that process.
It is organized crime. In their sense, it is organized crime. It is
clear about that. There are hierarchies. There is leadership and we
do see that and we are getting a better understanding of that network as we proceed with our interviews and our collection efforts.
Ambassador MULL. I would just add to the admirals statements
that early in our diplomatic efforts on this, earlier this winter, we

27
did pursue with our partners the idea of adopting some kind of
code of conduct that would regulate the payment of ransom, with
a view of trying to diminish it, to stop the flow of funds to them.
But the answer from all of our European allies was that they
would not be willing to support it at this time because they fear
they dont want to risk the lives of their citizens who might be at
risk of being killed in the event a ransom isnt paid.
We also explored the prospect of looking at what sort of international financial controls are in place, but the problem we run
into, as the admiral mentioned, is most of these transactions are
cash. And so it is very difficult to use the international banking
system to stop it.
Mr. JOHNSON. Is that dollars, American dollars? That is how the
ransoms are paid.
And what is the national currency
Ambassador MULL. Also, pounds, as well. British pounds, also,
are commonly used.
Mr. JOHNSON. But what is the currency being used in Somalia
currently?
Mr. WYCOFF. There is a Somali currency in circulation. It remains in circulation. But I believe there are also money changers
and that dollars are accepted and can be used to gain value to
make purchases and so forth in Somalia.
Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.
Mr. Wilson.
Mr. WILSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And, Mr. Chairman,
thank you for having such extraordinary people here today to discuss piracy in the 21st century.
Who would ever imagine?
And in particular, Admiral Gortney, I want to congratulate you
on your command, the Fifth Fleet. It is extraordinary the success
of the Fifth Fleet which has been in the Persian Gulf for over 50
years.
I had the opportunity to visit in Bahrain. I was so impressed by
the people of Bahrain. I appreciate so much the hosting by the
Kingdom of Bahrain of the Fifth Fleet, and it has been so mutually
beneficial, providing security for the region, leading to development
beyond imagination.
When I visited Bahrain, it just was really heartwarming to see
the success of the people in that country and the region.
Another part of encouragement to me is combined Task Force
151, working with nearly 20 nations to try to address the problem
of piracy.
And if you could explain how this command, which was established in January, is working. I am particularly interested in our
new partner, India, a great ally of America today, but also working
with the navies of China and Russia.
Admiral GORTNEY. Well, thank you for those kind words, sir, and
I will pass them on to the sailors, Marines and Coast Guard personnel that are there, and to the Kingdom151, currently commanded by an American one-star, Admiral Terry McKnight. Eventually, we are seeking another coalition nation to command it, and
we see opportunities there.

28
We work coordination efforts. Really, the level of coordination is
different with different nations that are not in the combined task
force. In the case of the Indian navy, we are in very close communication with them, sharing information, exchanging where we
would like them, where they are able to go.
Additionally, we provide them logistics support. As a matter of
fact, for all of the nations that are down there, we provide refueling
at sea and logistics support, the U.S. Navy does and the combined
task force does, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Russia and China.
Russia and China brought their own ships. Malaysia takes care
of themselves and we are working on the capability to expand
Saudi Arabias capability to do that.
But that level of exchange, once again, occurs differently based
on the technical needs that we have with those different nations.
With India, they do have CENTRICS and we use CENTRICS
with them.
Mr. WILSON. And, again, we do appreciate your personnel and
the success they have made.
A pleasant surprise to me, Secretary Wycoff, was to find out that
there is a developing government, functioning government in Somalia. I have always been concerned about the failed state as to
a haven for terrorism and, obviously, piracy.
And you have already addressed on it about the unity government, but it is just great to see efforts being made to establish a
government in Mogadishu, the security forces from neighboring
countries, and then the economic assistance from regional countries.
Can you go further into that?
Mr. WYCOFF. I am happy to, sir. I do not want to leave you with
the impressionthank you for your commentsdo not want to
leave the committee with the impression that we are on the certain
road to success in Somalia.
Mr. WILSON. Hey, any success is a surprise to me.
Mr. WYCOFF. Thank you, sir. And there is some optimism in the
international community on Somalia, but I caveat that, some optimism. There was, for instance, an international contact group
meeting on Somalia attended by over 30 countries last week and
a half a dozen international organizations, regional organizations.
So there is a tremendous amount of goodwill toward Somalia to
try to help them as they work through this process. But, also, there
is a very strong extremist element, al Shabaab comes to mind, for
instance, but there is a very strong extremist element in Somalia
that are acting as spoilers that continue to attack civilians, that
continue to attack expatriates, foreigners who are humanitarian
workers who are trying to help deal with the humanitarian tragedy
in Somalia.
So there is a complex mix underway in Somalia and, as I say,
the unity government is taking steps to try to move in the right
direction to bring more Somali elements into this political dialogue
and that is getting widespread support.
I would just note, for instance, that the Arab League has pledged
$1 million to support this process. The African Union is deeply involved, as is the U.S. And it is multifaceted. It is not just this polit-

29
ical effort, but there are also a number of partners that are trying
to work with the unity government to establish a better security
force, a joint security force that would take root, I think, in
Mogadishu and then would hope to go farther into Somalia.
Mr. WILSON. Thank you.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank the gentleman.
We have three members that still havent asked questions. We
would like to squeeze them in, if at all possible, so that the witnesses wont have to come back.
Mr. Kissell.
Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
A very quick question. The pirates, is that a growing industry?
We talked about these are people trying to feed their families. Is
it basically the same clan?
The attacks are up. Is it a growing industry or is it the same people attacking more?
Admiral GORTNEY. We saw a growth industry specifically in the
middle of August, when, in 2 days, we went from three pirated vessels to 12 pirated vessels, and it was the result of the clan on the
north coast of Somalia, and, clearly, we saw more and more suspected pirates attempting to pirate vessels.
And so our goal has always been to curb that growth, actually
drive the demand signal down.
Mr. KISSELL. The ship that had the tanks on it, would that have
fit the definition of a low, slow ship?
Admiral GORTNEY. It was, sir.
Mr. KISSELL. Do the pirates have any sense, when they are going
out, of what may be on a ship or are they just going after what
is there?
Admiral GORTNEY. They are going after any target of opportunity
that they think that they can get on board, soft targets.
Mr. KISSELL. Is there any sense, in their minds, from what you
all could see, they overreached in all the attention they got when
they got the ship with the tanks on it, that maybe, Hey, we need
to go lower profile?
Admiral GORTNEY. We did have efforts that, when they got on
board, they saw what they had, they were very surprised what they
had and, initially, they were concerned about that. Then they saw
an opportunity that they might get higher ransoms from it, which
was exactly what drug on why motor vessel Faina was held for the
length of time that it was.
Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Wittman.
Mr. WITTMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Admiral Gortney, just a question. In looking at the counter-piracy mission, as it expands and as it emerges, can you talk a little
bit about the unique training and equipment requirements that
you are facing there, and what capabilities might be able to improve the Navys abilities to counteract these particular threats?
Admiral GORTNEY. We see no shortfalls in either equipment or
training of the sailors, Marines or Coast Guardsmen that are involved in this. Through the fleet response training plan that all of
the U.S. naval vessels go through, they are taught the skill sets

30
necessary to execute the mission and the command and control of
the mission.
Mr. WITTMAN. In looking at this threat, in total, and, of course,
obviously, having small crafts around the ocean and coming up on
these different vessels, do you see, is there a benefit for the Navy
to maybe be looking at a different class of ships in order to be able
to counteract that, especially across the variety of different conditions and shallow water that we are facing these particular threats.
And I am just looking at that into the future, and if you believe
that the current mission set might generate requests for new needs
within the shipbuilding realm.
Admiral GORTNEY. We see the forces that we have and we are
currently procuring adequate to do this mission. It is a fairly lowtech warI am sorry, excuse meit is fairly a low-tech capability
that we need in order to do it.
We need good sea keeping capability. We need the sustainment.
And everything that we currently have and we are projecting to
build, we think, will be adequate.
Mr. WITTMAN. Do you think the demand generated now currently
by the number of piracy events going on out there, do you believe
that that has, in any way, challenged NAVCENT in its ability to
meet its mission set across the board?
Admiral GORTNEY. No, sir. We are able to meet all of the tasking
that Central Command has given us. The location and the inherent
flexibility of the naval forces when there is a need, we are able to
position those ships where they are needed in greater detail.
That is the real strength of the coalition with the numbers of
ships that are involved is that I can pull the Navy, U.S. Navy ships
out to go do the mission that the other nations dont have the authorities to execute and they are still able to do the counter-piracy
mission and we continue to command that mission through the
combined maritime forces.
So it is a good model.
Mr. WITTMAN. Do you see this particular threat continuing to
emerge? Do you see it as topping out? What do you see sort of the
future of the challenges that we face in these areas with piracy?
Admiral GORTNEY. Piracy has been around for centuries. It will
be around for centuries more. It is just criminal activity at sea.
My concern now is where we will be a year from now. Will we
have the level of international effort to assist with the counter-piracy? Will our efforts to try and hold suspected pirates accountable
for their actions? Will it be effective? Will it have the enduring effect that we are looking for?
We dont know. So I see that it will be episodic in the future as
tactics, techniques and procedures change on both sides to keep the
piracy at a level that the international community is willing to sustain.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much.
Mr. Heinrich, grab it up.
Mr. HEINRICH. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I will keep this short.
I am curious about the relationship with declining fishing stock
resources in the Gulf of Aden and what, if anything, can be done
regarding that that would reduce the tendency of piracy in the
area.

31
Admiral GORTNEY. The best fishing in the world, I would say,
down there. It is really phenomenal fishing opportunities, which, if
you study it, is one of the root causes that people are coming down
there and fishing out illegally out of Somali waters.
So whether or not it is depleting the stocks or not, we are going
to have to get back to you on that. I just dont know on the rest
of it.
Ambassador MULL. I would add to what the admiral said that we
share your concern that a motivating factor in all of this, Congressman, is it is a very emotive issue, really, in Somalia that these
international fishing firms are coming in and depleting the fishing
stocks there in the region.
And so one of the goals that we had in standing up this international contact group of these 28 countries and six organizations
that we launched in New York back in January was to get all these
countries to commit, not only are they going to fight the pirates,
but they are also going to commit to not fish illegally or dump toxic
substance into Somalias territorial waters, and to also support the
government of Somalias efforts to assert its rights for exclusive economics zone, the 200-mile zone under the law of the sea treaty.
So all of our European partners have pledged to do that. Some
countries have actually passed laws against it. The enforcement is
still a little spotty and we will keep working on that with them.
Mr. HEINRICH. I think that is an important point and I am glad
to hear that, because if we are not going to be dealing with this
10 years from now, we need to address some of the underlying factors.
I yield back, Mr. Chair.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank the gentleman.
And the hearing has ended. Special thanks to each one of you.
We appreciate it. We do have a letter that we will be sending regarding the question Mr. Taylor raised, and hopefully we will get
that back.
[Whereupon, at 11:41 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]

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